Sunday, April 24, 2011

kauai - day 1

arrived at lihue airport at 1:45pm to balmy temps in the low 80s. picked up our rental car - free upgrade to a chevy HHR! - and made a pit stop at fish express, at the behest of everybody at enterprise. scored the hawaiian plate - heaping portions of kalua pork, "two scoops rice," lomi lomi salmon and poké shoyu - for $8.

because they only offer takeout, we threw our bounty in the car, drove a few miles and stumbled upon wailua golf course, a public course with gorgeous ocean views. we tore thru our food and made a beeline to our resort on the east side, right near kapa'a.

our room wasn't quite ready yet, so we took a stroll around the coconut marketplace and enjoyed our first experience with lappert's ice cream. a scoop of kauai pie (kona coffee ice cream, macadamia nuts, toasted coconut & chocolate fudge) and coconut pineapple later, we were able to check in and relax before dinner. check out heidi's excitement at the number of shaved ice flavors:

dinner reservations at hukilau lanai were at 5:45pm, as they offer a special five-course meal before 6pm for $40 with wine pairings and $28 without. the rundown of tonight's feast:

dinner was incredible - one could taste the freshness of the local ingredients and the anticipation of the next course was riddled with excitement. the one thing i fear is that we set the bar too early in the trip...